Monday, May 29, 2017

Bob Hope by Owen Fitzgerald and Mort Drucker

All this week I'll be taking a look at comics that were either based on film comedians or comics based on TV comedies. The main draw for these comics are the talents involved. While the stories are fun and entertaining, it's the artists that shine the brightest.

Today I've posted two separate issues of The Adventures of Bob Hope published by DC Comics. Proving just how enduring Hope's popularity was as a comedian during his heyday, the title ran for an impressive 109 issues from 1950-1968. As a Hope fan, I usually only enjoy his late 30's and 1940's films. He was a powerhouse performer with a quick wit and had impeccable timing and delivery. He also had an impressive list of writers he kept on his payroll for decades.

The two issues below represent two periods of the comic. The first issue (#24) is drawn by the great Owen Fitzgerald, as were most of the early issues. Fitzgerald worked in animation beginning in the early 1940's and at some point moved into drawing comics as well. He has a fairly distinctive style, with a line that's clean, simple and very fluid. This certainly won't be last time you'll see his work on this blog. Hopefully I'll have more information in the future about this unsung cartoonist.

The second story is drawn by Mort Drucker, an artist that's very well known for his sense of caricature and is no stranger to anyone that grew up reading MAD Magazine. He drew film satires for MAD for decades, which made him perfect for a title like Bob Hope. Drucker actually worked as an assistant to Owen Fitzgerald and assisted on Fitzgerald's Bob Hope comics. He eventually moved on to drawing the title himself for an impressive run in the late 50's and early 60's.